Here we go again.

Deniss and I had been planning to go visit in Latvia. Deniss kept talking about one of his best friends, Ruslans. So - we offered him a deal - for about the same cost as two of us going to Latvia for a week, we could have Ruslans come here for a month. Deniss took us up on the deal. So, now we are working on hosting Ruslans through the same hosting program as the one we used for Deniss. It might be slightly cheaper if we didn't use a program but the paperwork is a huge undertaking and - this way Ruslans wouldn't be traveling alone.

Ruslans is also 15 years old. We met him last summer when he was here being hosted by another family. For whatever reason, they couldn't adopt him. Ruslans has told the orphanage director that he doesn't want to leave Latvia anyway because he has an older brother there.

Bottom line - we think this is just a chance for Deniss and Ruslans to spend five weeks together. But.....you never know.

Robin

Soccer rules!

Deniss got to play in the second JV game of the year. He played about half of the second half of the game. I didn't get to be there - it is tax season and the game was in Columbus.

Reports are that he did very well and impressed the coach and the other parents. By this time in the lives of our kids, you think that you have seen all of the players somewhere through the years. Parents were asking where Deniss came from because most had never seen him play before.

All of this makes us very proud of him. He has worked very hard to get in good shape for playing soccer. He knows that he has not had as many years to train and learn, so he tried to make up for it by getting in better shape physically. All he needed was a chance - and he is finally getting his chance to shine.

He has had so many issues to overcome at school, at home and in life in general. He has a great attitude and is showing what he can do when given the chance!

Robin

Still alive and well

I have been neglecting the blog. January was eventful. Deniss and Aaron tried out for the high school soccer team. Deniss made the JV team. That is quite the accomplishment considering that he had never played organized soccer before coming to America.

Aaron was quite disappointed that he didn't make the team. We feel like his skills are good - he just need to work on fitness and attitude. We are very proud of him regardless.

The whole soccer situation set back the boys relationship a little bit. They are getting back on track now.

Deniss and I had planned to go to Latvia this summer to visit. Then we thought about hosting one of Deniss' best friends instead. Deniss liked that idea because he would get to spend five weeks with Ruslans instead of just a few days. We are working on making that happen. Deniss needs the chance to interact with other Latvia kids every now and then.

More later.

Robin

Wrap up - 2007

Christmas was wonderful this year. Having Deniss with us was a great blessing in many ways. Seeing Christmas through his eyes made us stop and think about the small stuff, the traditions, the memories, the family times. It was fun telling him about all of our family traditions. He would often say that he didn't have ornaments or memories like ours. I would simply tell him that he started now. He had a new start at life and he will get to build great memories from now on.

Our family is so blessed now. We have three wonderful sons, one biological, one adopted at birth, one adopted at 14 years. All different but the love is still the same! Sometimes we feel like Deniss has been with us forever, but then sometimes we hear his accent and get reminded of the wonderful journey we have had over the last year and half. It is hard to imagine that at Christmas time two years ago, we had no idea what was in store for us. God has an amazing way of guiding you down different paths.

Some people have been telling us that we are doing something wonderful. We can't take the credit. For once in our lives, we stepped back and really let God take control. It is amazing what can happen when you let go of control and let God take over!

Robin

Christmas so far....

Well - our household is full of new experiences. Last Saturday, Deniss and I made some cookies. He had never done that before. So - I taught him about licking the beater and other such things that kids do when "helping" to make cookies. He really did help though - he ran the mixer for me and help drop cookie dough onto the cookie sheets.

Saturday night we went to Callaway to the "Fantasy in Lights" display. It was cold and raining but we didn't complain because we needed the rain so much. The lights are still fun to see - even in the rain.

The boys are taking exams this week. They will be out of school on Friday. I will be taking them ice skating that day.

Deniss has an appointment to take his test for his learners licenses at DMV tomorrow. We were able to make arrangements to have someone from DMV read the questions to him. So - if all goes well, I will be teaching Deniss to drive soon! And Aaron will start in about six months! Say some prayers for us all!

Merry Christmas to anyone reading this!

Robin

Thanksgiving

Wow - what a great Thanksgiving we had this year. So much to be thankful for with Deniss in our family. It was fun trying to explain our tradition to him - part history lesson - partly I just kept saying "It's all about the food".

We had Thanksgiving dinner with friends from church. Having a big group around always makes Thanksgiving fun. We couldn't get Deniss to try the cornbread dressing. Maybe at Christmas.

On Saturday, Ken's birthday, I had arranged for all the Likumi kids to get together for ice skating. All of the families came. That was eight kids that have been or are in the final stages of adoption that live in North Georgia. They all came from the Likumi Children's Home in Latvia. There are two brother/sister siblings groups that are in family's with two other siblings. There is a set of twin girls who were adopted by a couple with no other children. There is one girl who now has three siblings and then there is Deniss with two brothers. All of the siblings were there ice skating as well with the exception of our Bobby and one other older brother from another family. So we had a great crowd. The Likumi kids loved getting to see each other - after all - they are like family as well. The parents all enjoyed talking to each other and sharing the joys and pains of adopting older kids from another country. It seems like we all were able to laugh about our shared "issues". Kids that eat us out of house and home, kids not understanding why they need to tell us before they leave the house, kids that struggle learning enough English to get by in school. The list goes on - but it was nice to talk about these things and know that we all had the same issues. But most important - it was nice to see the joy and happiness from all of the families and the kids! We are already planning another get together for February!

Deniss got to experience his Dad's birthday as well. He was with us for Aaron's and my birthday back in June but our birthdays were overshadowed a bit this year because we were still in Europe. We were busy getting paperwork completed in Riga on Aaron's birthday. We were traveling to Poland for our US Embassy appointment on my birthday. Now that I think about it, we were busy with Deniss on Ken's birthday as well. Maybe next year we will all have birthday's that are not overshadowed by the adoption thing. By then we will just be busy with everyday life.

Robin

Halloween

Well - Deniss had his first experience with the whole trick or treat thing last night. He had never done that before. He went with Aaron and a friend. He was a "redneck" in camoflage clothing. Only we know how out of character that really was! He had a good time but I really think he is going to get sick from all the candy!

We also participated in a fall festival at church on Sunday night. I really thought he was going to be sick from the candy that night as well.

We have had a wild week so far and it is only Thursday. Besides the Halloween stuff, on Monday night we got a letter from the boys high school stating that two girls had been arrested for discussing a shooting threat in a My Space chat room. It has been in the local newspapers. Yesterday, rumors were flying at the school about another threat. About 25% of the students went home early. We did not get the boys because we felt like the rumors yesterday were not credible. People tend to get a little crazy at times like these.

Robin

We finally have citizenship papers

Even through Deniss officially became a citizen of the USA when he went through Immigrations in Atlanta back in June, Homeland Security wouldn't give us his citizenship papers until he went to a swearing in ceremony. Deniss and I went to an 8:30AM appointment in Tucker on Friday. He signed his papers, swore an oath ant then received his papers. It was actually issued back in July - go figure! We can now get his social security number and passport. Having a passport will mean that we can at least start thinking about a trip back to Latvia.

The wait at Immigration on Friday was long but I did find another family that has worked with New Horizons. They adopted a 15 year old from St. Petersburg Russia. So - at least I had someone to talk to during the two hours that I was in the waiting room. Deniss had to go in another room all that time. I hadn't taken my camera so they took pictures of Deniss receiving his paper and us hugging after the ceremony.

The Shultz's have left to go on their next Latvian adventure. They hosted a boy named Dima when we were hosting Deniss. Dima decided after their first trip to Latvia that he did not want to be adopted. It broke their hearts but not their spirits. They hosted again this summer - this time a brother and sister. Go check our their blog at jblatvia.blogspot.com. They left the USA yesterday. We are praying for better news after this trip!

Robin

I have been busy - so it has been a while since I last posted anything. We got wonderful news from some friends who have been trying to adopt from Latvia as well. John and Becky tried to adopt a 14 year old boy from Likumi. However, after their two week visit, he decided that he did not want to leave his brother behind. I think it is probably a tough decision to make at that age. In the short run, his life would be easier staying in Latvia. It is difficult to adapt to a family, to a new language and a new country. But, we all know that in the long run, having a family can make a kids life much better. That is a very difficult thing to understand at age 14. Thank goodness Deniss has the maturity to see that the short term difficulties are outweighed by the long term benefits.

Anyway, John and Becky didn't give up. Since they were already in the adoption mode, they decided to host a brother and sister from Likumi over the summer. Of course, they fell in love with them and decided they wanted them. They just got the good news that the referral for the kids had come from the Ministry in Latvia. They are scheduled to go for the two week visit the first week in November. They are also trying to make arrangements to bring the kids back with them under a temporary custody arrangement.

Another couple that hosted last summer (2006) when we did, is going to Latvia in a few days to bring home their new son and daughter. The Dolans were a little behind us in getting their paperwork done. The adoption was finalized in September.

So as of now there are four kids from Likumi here in North Georgia with another three in North Florida. Two more will be here before the end of the month with another two by the first of the year. Quite a crowd. We have gotten together with the twins a few times. We hope to get some of the others together.

It is a little harder for Deniss to get used to not being able to speak Latvian. All but one of those other kids have a sibling here in America that they can speak to in their native tongue. Deniss doesn't have that luxury. He says he misses his language.

The boys are out of school the end of this week. We decided to take a little trip to Texas to visit Bobby and Lana. Deniss will be able to add another state to his list of states he has been to or through. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and now Texas.

Deniss had an unfortunate incident last night with his bike. We had gotten him a really nice bike because he enjoys riding so much. Well, last night he rode it to Best Buy. He knows that bikes have the same rights as cars, so he pulled his bike into a parking space, locked it up and went inside. When he came out, he found that someone (who didn't have the nerve to stay around) had run over his bike with their car. He called Ken, Ken called the police. There was an eye witness who hung around to describe the car to the police but unforturnatly the van had the drive off dealer tag on it so there was no tag number to trace. We can only hope that they messed up their shiny new vehicle because they left Deniss' bike in a heap on the ground. Now we have to find a way to pay for major repairs to his bike or we might have to buy a new one. He was noticably upset!

I will try not to wait so long for the next post.

Robin

Well - school was a slight problem again but not because of Deniss. This time, we got a nasty letter from the school saying that they would take Deniss off the roles if we didn't give them his social security number by the middle of October. Well - that is a problem because we don't have one. We can't get his SSN until we get his citizenship papers. We can't get his citizenship papers until his "swearing in" ceremony on October 26. So - I had to go to school today and sign a paper saying that I objected to giving his SSN. Crazy stuff! Here he is in this country legally but they give us a hard time! Go figure.

Anyway - the school is happy for now. Hopefully we will get his papers in October. So much depends on that. We need the SSN for school, for taxes, for him to get a learners license, for getting a passport etc. Life just revolves around those numbers.

Robin

More school stuff

Yesterday Deniss and I met with the ESOL teacher and guidance counselor. Deniss is really beginning to believe that people want to help him. He comes out of these meetings very excited about getting a good education. He told me yesterday that when he was in Latvia he did not care so much about school. Now he thinks he can get a good education and eventually a good job. I think it is exciting that a 15 year old can see the value in having better opportunities. He sees that staying in Latvia would have been easier right now but not so good for the rest of his life. I am not so sure I would have been able to see the value in that when I was 15. But then, I always had parents and teachers looking out for my best interest. I get the feeling that maybe even the teachers in Latvia didn't put a lot of effort in the "orphanage" kids. Deniss seems amazed that these teachers seem to care so much about helping him.

Robin

School stuff

Yesterday Deniss and I had a meeting with his guidance counselor and all of his teachers. Well - it was supposed to be all but the most important one - the ESOL teacher was a no show. Anyway, it was a good meeting. Deniss was very nervous about it before hand. He had certainly never had a parent going to bat for him before. All meetings with teachers before were never for good reasons. I kept reassuring him that this was a good meeting - meant to find ways to help him.

When we left - he was happy. He now feels like we are mostly all on his side! (There is one teacher that wanted to only say his piece and not listen to what we had to say so I am a little concerned about him). But - for the most part, I think we found some ways to make the language barrier a little easier for Deniss. They are going to find a buddy for him in a couple of classes to read questions to him and write down his answers.

Hopefully the ESOL teacher will call me today for a rescheduled appointment. I really need some guidance on how to teach Deniss to read and write in English. I am not a trained teacher so my attempts are missing the mark a bit right now.

Anyway - we all have a lot of work to do to help Deniss. He is a great kid but understandably gets very frustrated and overwhelmed trying to learn in English.

Robin

Friday night, Deniss and I spent the night in Duluth before the Atlanta Cup started on Saturday. His first game was at 8AM. Deniss talked non-stop the whole way up there. We covered a lot of topics, including people getting sent to Siberia from Latvia and the Holocaust.

His team lost both games on Saturday but he was really excited that they were playing better as a team. The boys are a hodgepodge group of 14 and 15 year olds from different soccer clubs, so it took a little while for them to become a real team. They won their game on Sunday.

Between games on Saturday, first I made Deniss go to a scrapbook store with me. Believe it or not, he had a little fun with that. Then we went to the Mall of Georgia. He had never been in a large mall before. We bought some new soccer cleats for Deniss and some new shoes for me. We had a lot of fun just being together. Again, Deniss did a LOT of talking.

Ken and I called each other on our cell phones during the games. Aaron was playing in Fayetteville. Aaron's team won the first game and lost the second. They won their game on Sunday when I was there. Aaron scored two goals over the weekend.

Monday we went to the New World of Coke in Atlanta. We had some family fun. Now we are all back to our daily grinds. Thankfully, it will be a four day week!

Robin

Deniss is beginning to get a little overwhelmed at school. He is a smart kid and understands most of the concepts but learning in english is difficult. He is not only learning new concepts but has to understand the english words as well. Tests are difficult because he doesn't understand written english as well as he does spoken english. He says he gets headaches. We have been told that there is such a thing as "english" headaches.

He does miss his friends in Latvia. He also says he misses his language. I can understand that. Every aspect of his life has changed. He is really adapting well considering the overwhelming amount of change in his life!

Aaron is adapting to a new brother and to high school as well. Of course he has lots of old friends to help in the high school thing.

The boys are playing in the Atlanta Cup soccer tournament this weekend. But of course nothing could be simple. Deniss plays in Duluth. Aaron plays in Fayetteville. Deniss has his first game at 8AM Saturday so he and I will go spend the night in Duluth Friday night. Ken and I will switch kids on Sunday. They only have to play Monday if they go to the finals.

More later.....

Robin

The first week of school went by without any real problems. We did have issues with Deniss being able to read some of the instructions and questions on his homework - but of course we knew that would happen. We are settling into a routine with school and soccer now.

Deniss says he had lots of time with nothing to do in Latvia. He says he wasn't so busy as he is here. I guess we are teaching him to be a typical American teenager.

Robin

School!

Well I was on pins and needles all day thinking about the boys and their first day of high school. I knew Aaron would find his friends and be fine. I wasn't so sure how Deniss would do. He can sometimes go into his shell around people he doesn't know. But - to my surprise, when I got home, he was all smiles. He had a great day. He said people were very friendly and lots of people wanted to be his friend. Some friends of Aaron's (girls) found him at lunch and had him sit with them. He was quite pleased with the day.

I took the boys to school yesterday and today. Taking Deniss to school has really started to make all of this feel permanent. I knew it was before but somehow - it is really taking hold now.

I picked Deniss up from soccer practice last night to take him to find new shoes. We stopped and got some dinner before heading home. We kept a conversation going all of that time. He has really started talking more about his childhood. We talked about Christmas and Santa. He said he never believed in Santa because Santa never came and brought him anything. He said he never got much for Christmas or birthdays. I told him that Santa would bring him something this year. He just smiled.

Robin

Well - today is a big day! Deniss and Aaron started high school today. Today is the day when we really get to feel that Deniss is here to stay and not just visiting again. Both boys were nervous starting a new school. Aaron will be fine once he finds his friends. Deniss just needs a few days under his belt. This is a much larger school than he has even attended. His school in Latvia had about 200 students. McIntosh has over 2000 students!

The boys played in a soccer tournament over the weekend. It was HOT!!! We watched them play against each other on Saturday. Deniss' team won - but it was close. We didn't enjoy that game some much because we couldn't cheer for either side!

Robin

I got back from my trip yesterday. I was really glad to see my boys. Deniss was in the yard waiting for me.

We went to the first night of family VBS at church. That was fun. Deniss had seen pictures of us from the last one back last fall. He had fun helping the children make wooden boats. Aaron helped make ropes.

This weekend will be the first soccer tournament of the season. We are looking forward to seeing the boys play. Deniss' and Aarons' teams will play against each other in the second game. That will be nerve racking!

One week until the start of school. I think the real adjustment issues will start then. We'll see.

Robin

Well - we were going to stop posting but have been asked to continue. So - we will keep this going but won't be updating quite as often.

All continues to go well in our newly expanded family. Last night we went to the New Horizons farewell party. Deniss wanted to see Ruslans and Zenta again before they went home to Latvia. It was fun to see some of our old friends from New Horizons - but the best part was knowing that we wouldn't have to go to the airport on Wednesday to say goodbye to Deniss! My heart ached for the families that will be going through that sad time.

I have to leave today to go to continuing edcation and a partners meeting. Deniss said he wanted to go with me but he and Aaron have soccer practice. Last night he said at least we know it is not a year but only a few days that we will be apart. Today will be the first day that I won't see him since we picked him up on June 4th.

Ken has been telling me that I need to cut the apron strings but I am just not ready to even consider that. I tell him that Deniss just got a Mother, he needs to be able to enjoy it.

Last Friday night, Deniss and Aaron's soccer teams played against each other in a scrimmage game. It was a lot of fun to finally see Deniss playing in a game. That was the first time in his life that he has played with family on the sidelines! At one point in the game Deniss and Aaron were going at it one on one. I couldn't look - I can't take sides! In the end, Deniss' team won - but they are older than Aaron's team. The first real test of both teams will be the weekend of the 11th of August. They are both playing in a tournament. We don't have the schedules yet but it may also be the first time that Ken and I have to go in different directions and each pick a kid to watch.

Deniss and Aaron start High School on the 16th of August. That is going to be the next major hurdle in our lives. So - big changes are coming!

More later
Robin

Deniss and Aaron started soccer training this week. They are running about four miles several times a week. Deniss went to the dentist yesterday. He may need braces. He says if he has to have braces, then he won't smile all of the time they are on. So - this should be interesting.

Tonight we are going to take Zenta, the director of Likumi to dinner. She is here for this summer's hosting program and we promised to take her to dinner. Besides, we wouldn't want to have her in America and us not get to spend some time with her.

I don't know how much longer we can keep up with the blog without invading Deniss' privacy. At this point, this can get a little personal. It has been a lot of fun letting folks keep up with our adventure this way. But - Deniss is a teenager and wouldn't want his personal life open to the whole world.

I will up date a little while longer regarding soccer and school. I will let you know when we plan to stop.

Robin